Dust-covered memories (III)

"Annie! What's wrong with you? Why are you so distracted? How can you be a warrior like this? Do you know how much effort I've put into you?!" Leonhardt grabbed his daughter's shoulders and scolded her sternly.

Faced with her father's rage, Annie lowered her head in panic. She understood that her father wanted her to become a warrior so that she could become Honorary Marleyan. Perhaps Annie's father only used Annie as a tool, but Annie only had him as her father.

After readjusting himself, Annie punched the wooden stake repeatedly, but his eyes would occasionally dart to a rock not far away.

The boy who used to bring desserts every day hasn't come over for several days. Annie won't admit that she misses that clingy guy; at most, she just misses the desserts he brought!

Seven- or eight-year-old children are actually very innocent, especially those like Annie who live in a family devoid of affection. Such children often cherish every kind of affection even more.

Similarly, such children are also very likely to shut themselves off early on, becoming cold and outcasts in the eyes of other children.

Yago entered Annie's world before Annie completely shut herself off.

Bang! With a punch that shattered the wooden stake in front of him, Annie's father nodded, turned around, and went back into the house.

Annie sat on the ground, panting, sweat beading on his forehead.

Suddenly, a sweet scent seemed to flash by between Annie's high, straight nose. Annie's eyes lit up, and when she turned around, sure enough, there was the familiar Yago and the familiar paper package.

Although she was overjoyed, Annie remained calm and stayed where she was, which was rare. Annie knew that girls should be reserved.

With a delicious dessert in her mouth, Annie casually asked, "What have you been doing these past few days?"

After a few days apart, Yago's face was a little pale. He yawned and said, "Oh, this? I met a Marley Scientist a few days ago and became his assistant. I can earn a lot of money a day. By the way, I've also been outside the concentration area. It's really big outside, there's a huge, huge bridge..."

When asked about the scenery outside the Eldia Internment Zone, Yago became interested and enthusiastically described it to Annie.

Annie munched on her Sweetbread, silently listening, even though Annie wasn't particularly interested; she figured it was the price of the dessert.

Annie didn't notice that when Yago raised his arm, his sleeve slipped down, revealing several faint bruises and a few scabbed needle marks.

"Oh, right! I have a surname now, Doctor Ebson gave it to me, Norman! Doesn't it sound nice? I have a surname now too, Yago Norman!" Yago looked at Annie expectantly.

Annie paused for a moment. Norman? She'd never heard of that surname before, but it didn't matter. "It sounds nice."

Yago was even happier to receive Annie's affirmation.

Time flies, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye. The children have grown up so fast. The two children who were little toddlers three years ago are now eleven years old and can be considered big kids.

Crack! With Annie's fierce punch, the wooden stake snapped in two.

"Wow, Siguoyi, that's amazing! As expected of Annie!"

Annie looked at Yago, who had expressed his admiration, and felt a little emotional. Three years ago, he was about the same height as Yago, but how come this guy has been growing taller all these years? He's already half a head taller than him.

Annie wouldn't have cared about such childish things as height, but under Yago's influence, the originally indifferent Annie gradually became more cheerful.

Over the course of three years, Annie and Yago's relationship became so close that it could be described as childhood sweethearts. In Annie's original world, there was only darkness and desolation, but after Yago entered Annie's world, the dark world was tinged with color.

"Come on, Annie, try this newest dessert. It's only available to Marleyan!" Yago eagerly handed Annie the paper package, but the bruises and needle marks on his arm were visible.

Annie was a little worried, but Yago said there was nothing wrong. It was inevitable for someone to be a Scientist's assistant. Besides, Doctor Ebson had been good to him, and nothing had gone wrong all these years.

Annie had asked her father about Doctor Ebson, whom Yago had mentioned, and learned that the latter was a strange Marley Nobility who frequently visited the Eldia Internment Zone, but unlike other Marleyan, he did not discriminate against Eldians.

Annie could only keep this worry to himself. Yago smelled the aroma of the desserts and felt slightly suffocated. He admired Annie. Yago had almost vomited from smelling these sweet foods for three years, yet Annie still didn't get tired of them?!

"By the way, tomorrow is the selection for Warrior Candidate, right? Um, I might..." Yago said cautiously to Annie.

Upon hearing this, Annie immediately exploded, "What? Didn't you say you were going to go? You want to back out?!"

Yago chuckled and said, "Doctor Ebson has a very important experiment tomorrow, so..."

"Fine, don't come then! You liar!" Annie turned around angrily, but then a shiny Ring in Yago's hand caught Annie attention.

"I'm sure Annie will win easily. How about this Ring as an early gift? It's very precious, you know. It even has our names engraved on it. There's only one like it in the world!" Yago handed the Ring to Annie.

It was indeed exquisite, Annie liked it at first sight, but still stubbornly asked, "Why do you need to carve your name on it?"

Yago smiled and said, "This represents our friendship and my best wishes for you. Good luck, Annie! Do you like it? Can you forgive me for not being able to go to the audition tomorrow?"

Annie took the Ring and smiled slightly. "Not bad, I forgive you."

With a creak, Yago pushed open the heavy wooden door, frowned, but still entered the dimly lit underground. He walked through a long corridor with many oil paintings on both sides that Yago couldn't understand.

Finally, they reached the end. The fluorescent tubes emitted a yellow glow, illuminating a girl standing in front of the door. The girl looked a little older than Yago, and her brown hair appeared somewhat dark under the light.

"You've finally arrived. We were just waiting for you." The girl opened the door calmly and led Yago inside.

The spacious basement was filled with all sorts of bottles and jars, and a dazzling array of glass laboratory equipment.

Yago found the strong smell of disinfectant in Doctor Ebson's Underground Laboratory quite repulsive, but after all, Ebson had been kind to him.

Several children of similar age to Yago have already arrived in the basement; without exception, they are all Eldia orphans.

After waiting a while, Doctor Ebson, humming a strange tune, came into the basement, looking to be in a good mood.

"The usual, kids," Ebson said playfully.

The children, including Yago, lay down on the wooden beds, Elusa, the girl from the doorway, tied their hands and feet tightly one by one.

Yago and the others were used to it. Doctor Ebson would always draw a small tube of their blood first. As for tying them up, it was to prevent them from moving around and puncturing the wrong vein. After the blood was drawn, they would help Doctor Ebson with some manual labor.

This had been going on for three years, and everyone had gotten used to it, but today Yago felt that Doctor Ebson's condition was a bit off; the smile on his face seemed somewhat... insane?

Fiddled with the test tubes in front of him, Ebson, with his back to Yago and the others, suddenly revealed a morbid smile. "Heh, indeed, science is the ultimate answer."

(Regarding the update issue, Muzi listened to the opinions of the group members, and updating at midnight does seem too late, so Muzi have decided to adjust the update time to around 5 or 6 pm (๑°3°๑). Please feel free to give me any suggestions.)